“That’s the talk!” put in another. “You fellows can settle this some other time.” And a minute later the steam yacht continued on its way up Clearwater Lake.
“Well, we didn’t make much out of that,” remarked one of the cadets.
“Just the same, I hold that they are responsible,” said Pud Hicks sturdily.
“I think so myself,” answered Jack. “But whether you can hold them for it or not is a question. If you took it to court probably they would have as many witnesses to side with them as we’d have for us.”
“I wouldn’t care so much if only the silver vase hadn’t been lost,” sighed Randy, who was now feeling once more like himself. “Gee! what are we going to tell the other fellows and Colonel Colby when we get back to the school?”
“I’m afraid there’ll be an awful howl go up when the fellows learn that the trophy has been lost,” answered the young major soberly.
“Why can’t we fish it up?” questioned Fred quickly. “How deep do you suppose the water is around here?”
“Thirty or forty feet at least—maybe twice that,” answered Pud Hicks.
“Well, we’ve got to get it back somehow!” cried Gif. “We worked too hard to win it to lose it this way.”
The motor boat was run around in a circle in the vicinity of the spot where the precious silver trophy had disappeared beneath the waters of the lake. Then, with heavy hearts, Pud Hicks and the cadets turned once more in the direction of the Colby Hall boat-landing.